"Cary Kittrell" <cary at afone.as.arizona.edu> wrote in message
news:asjee5$st1$1 at oasis.ccit.arizona.edu...
> In article <Ky8H9.5485$K64.84822 at news2.west.cox.net> "John Knight"
<jwknight at polbox.com> writes:
> <
> <>
> {...}
> <>
> <
> <Let's test your deductive reasoning skills, garryowen.
> <
> <Here's the original poll and the results:
> <http://christianparty.net/gallupcreation.htm> <
> <Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced
forms
> <of life, but God guided this process. 40%
> <Human beings have developed over millions of years from lessadvanced
forms
> <of life. God had no part in this process. 9%
> <God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time
> <within the last 10,000 years or so. 47%
> <No opinion 4%
> <
> <
> <
> <
> <Based on these KNOWN results, what do you think would have been the
> <responses to this much SIMPLER survey question:
> <
> <
> <How was human life created?
> <
> <A) God.
> <
> <B) Evolution.
> <
> <C) Dunno.
> <
> <
>> Gee, as long as we're indulging in intellectually dishonest
oversimplifications,
> why stop there, lose your nerve? Obviously the only meaningful question
> would be
>> How was human life created?
>> A) Evolution.
>> B) Dunno.
>>
First, you of course already KNOW that we know that you know what the answer
to the question is, so let's put it on record:
87% = A) God
9% = B) Evolution.
4% = C) Dunno
>>>> Of course, the honest re-wording should have been:
>>>> How was human life created?
>> A) God.
>> B) Evolution.
>> C) Both of the above.
>> D) Neither of the above.
>> E) Whatever.
>
There's no such thing as "both of the above", because life was either
created by God, or it was created by "evolution". To word a question this
way is to LIE, to MISLEAD, and to prompt a desired response which isn't
valid.
My bet is that "liberals" like you'd pick D), which is an excellent reason
for leaving it off.
>> which is for all purposes what Gallup did in the first place. If
> you're a Biblical literalist, you will be perfectly comfortable
> going with option C):
>> A) Human beings have developed over millions of
> years from less advanced forms of life, but God
> guided this process.
>> B) Human beings have developed over millions of
> years from less advanced forms of life. God had
> no part in this process.
>> C) God created human beings pretty much in their
> present form at one time within the last 10,000
> years or so.
>> D) No opinion
>>> and that holds true even if you go with John Knight's silly geological
> and theological revisionism which claims that the Earth is only
> a few thousand years old -- "within the last 10,000 years or so"
> is perfectly consistent with such an AYEC belief.
>>> -- cary
>>>
What you keep ignoring, cary, for obvious reasons, is that what has been
taught for decades now in our "public" "schools" contradicts the Holy Bible,
which means that the following question is what most putative Christians in
this putative Christian nation would have answered:
E) "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time
within millions of years".
The Holy Bible doesn't specify how long ago this occurred. It only says
that it did occur. It requires much analysis to realize that what IS taught
in "public" "schools" CANNOT be correct, so none of the above four responses
would be accurate for a Christian who both reads the Holy Bible, believes
SOME of what they heard in "public" "schools", but hasn't done the detailed
analysis. This is the way the vast majority of Americans WOULD have
responded if they had been asked the question, but since they were limited
to only two responses that didn't fit their real view, they had to pick the
least erroneous of the two.
Which is the closest fit? Both are wrong, so many of 4% whose response was
"no opinion" may have picked E) if it had been asked. And if you believe
that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form" longer ago
than 10,000 years, then you can't honestly pick C), which might cause a
number to pick A) even if they DO NOT believe in "evolution", or even that
"human beings have developed".
Here is a best guess of how the question would been answered had it been
properly worded (and had it not been constructed by a jew):
2% > A) Human beings have developed over millions of
> years from less advanced forms of life, but God
> guided this process.
>9% > B) Human beings have developed over millions of
> years from less advanced forms of life. God had
> no part in this process.
>2% > C) God created human beings pretty much in their
> present form at one time within the last 10,000
> years or so.
>2% > D) No opinion
>85% > E) "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at
one time within millions of years".
John Knight